A week and a half remains in my study abroad experience. More than ever, time doesn’t feel quite real. The days are long and the weeks are all too short. I now stand where there is far more to look back on from this experience than to look ahead to. And so, now is the time to reflect on one of the most whirlwind experiences of my life.
Looking back, it is easy to focus only on the highlights or the big moments. After all, going to a local cafe may seem bland compared to hiking in the Swiss Alps. However, I think that some of the most important things I learned abroad and some of the most fundamental ways I changed came from the little moments.
Being abroad isn’t just about traveling to major cities and famous sites, it is also about living and immersing yourself in a new culture. Of course, the challenge is finding a balance between the two. In my experience, there were travel-heavy periods contrasted with more stationary periods, each leading to a great desire for the other.
In the end, this balancing act taught me to appreciate the little things just as much as the big adventures. While I can say that I’ve been to the Louvre, I can also say that I have learned how to cook using a totally different selection of ingredients. I have now winter-hiked in the Austrian Alps, but I have also learned how to get around using only public transportation.
Sometimes in this social media age, it is easy to see the mundane things as a waste of time or boring, but experiencing them is what makes the big things stand out. And even more, the hassles and everyday tasks are what teach us how to live and how to find joy in each moment.
Now that my experience abroad is ending, I can confidently say that nothing was quite as I anticipated. There were different struggles and different highs than I could have predicted. There were moments I felt that I was not seeing or doing enough and others when all I wanted was to spend some slow time in Freiburg. But in the end, I think my scales evened out as best as they could.
I started writing this column on a Deutsche Bahn train to Berlin, full of excitement and energy to adventure anywhere the wind would take me. Now, I am finishing it from my room in Freiburg, feeling peacefully ready to wrap up this chapter and head home to rest.
That’s the thing about wanderlust — it too is one side of a balancing act.
